Legal Updates from the World of Gambling

As the Bush administration continues its campaign to save us from the evils of gambling (hey, how about saving us from the evils of high gas prices, pointless wars and crappy healthcare?), there are a couple of new legal developments that you might be interested in.

KAPLAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY

First off, Gary Kaplan, the founder of BetonSports who was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in March, pled not guilty on Monday to charges of federal fraud, tax evasion and racketeering. While still in custody in St. Louis, Kaplan will have a bail hearing later this month. Since he’s quite wealthy and has a residence in a foreign country with no extradition laws, I would bet that bail will be denied.

Besides the criminal charges and corresponding penalties, the U.S. is also looking to snag $4.5 billion in forfeitures and seizures from Kaplan and his BetonSports associates. They are also levying a $5000 a day fine against BetonSports for failure to appear in court. Hey, we’ve gotta pay for the war in Iraq somehow!

DOJ ISSUES MORE INDICTMENTS

A few days ago, our friends at the Department of Justice issued a press release regarding the indictments of seven individuals and four companies for their involvement in the dreaded practice of online gambling. This mostly stems from their involvement in processing credit card and Western Union transactions between US residents and Internet gambling websites.

The companies indicted were:

CurrenC, LTD.

Gateway Technologies

Hill Financial Services

BetUS

And the seven individuals indicted were:

Baron Lombardo

Richard Carson-Selman

Henry G. Bankey

Francisco Lombardo

Count C. Lombardo (wow, they have a Baron and a Count in the family)

Tina I. Hill

Kimberlie Lombardo

The 34-count indictment states that the defendants misclassified credit card transactions to Internet gambling sites in order to disguise the nature of the transactions to US banks. The companies also used a company in the Philippines as a clearing house for Western Union wire transfers between Internet gambling sites and US online bettors.

The defendants have yet to be taken into custody. If convicted, the maximum penalties for the charges include 20 years for racketeering conspiracy, 30 years for bank fraud, 2 years for transmission of wagering information and 20 years for money laundering. Meanwhile, Michael Jackson and O.J. run free. Yep, the legal system is definitely working.

In addition to the charges, the US is seeking to get their greedy little hands on $150 million as well as real estate, vehicles, and funds in various bank accounts. That should be just enough cash to help build that robotic body that Dick Cheney has always wanted.

To read more about the US government and their wacky war on gambling, check out the following articles:

Gary Kaplan Arrested by U.S. Agents

Bush Administration Ignores WTO Ruling

Legal Updates from the World of Gambling